Learn to love again
by Thirteen94
Summary: Emma doesn't see an evil queen, she sees a broken woman who had everything she loved taken away from her, Emma wants to fix this, she wants to help Regina love again (Set after 2x16, eventual Swan Queen)
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) Based on the song "Learn to Love again" By Lawson, next update will be tomorrow (I promise! I also promise that the next chapter will be a hell of a lot longer!)

Regina lay the rose down on top of her mother's coffin, choking back a sob as she did so. Her mother loved her, which should have been all that mattered, had Regina known that throughout her life, things would have turned out oh so differently, Daniel would still be with her, she'd be home. But she wouldn't have Henry.  
It was conflicting.  
Regina's anguish faded to anger, Snow had done this, manipulated Regina into killing her own mother.  
She would have her revenge if it was the last thing she did.

The sound of footsteps behind her pulled her from her internal monologue, they were too loud to be Henry's, one of the Charming's come to gloat no doubt. As the intruder stepped within the tomb Regina spun around sending a ball of fire towards them.  
The attack fell short, hitting the wall beside a terrified Emma Swan, managing to singe few golden hairs in the process.  
"Jesus! Regina!" Emma yelled, eyes wide. "You could have killed me!"  
"That was the idea dear." Regina turned back to Cora's coffin, willing the tears to stop falling. She expected Emma to leave, or at the least explain what she was doing there. Neither option happened, the silence filled the room.  
After what felt like hours, minutes even Emma finally spoke up, moving closer to stand beside Regina.  
"I'm sorry for your loss." Despite how genuine she sounded a fresh wave of anger consumed Regina.  
"Don't you dare act like you care." She spat turning to face Emma, just like always any consideration for personal space has gone. "You didn't know her, you didn't love her. So why don't you run off home and play happy family with the two idiots and my son" Regina's voice was thick with grief, barely able to choke out the rest of her sentence, yet her eyes never left Emma's face. She saw a flash of hurt briefly cross the blondes features. Regina clenched her fists, ready for a full scale blow out.  
"No." Emma shook her head slowly before looking back into Regina's eyes. "I didn't know her, I didn't love her. But she was your mother. You loved her, your grieving, I just- I just thought you could do with a friendly face…" Emma was cut off by Regina grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her towards the door of the tomb, using some of her magic to add some much needed force.  
"A friendly face? Your mother used me. Used me to kill my own mother." Regina growled, magic crackling at her fingertips. She saw Emma swallow and glance at her hands before meeting her eyes again. "You took my son. You challenged my world! You challenged me! And you call yourself a friendly face?" Regina laughed harshly, fire enveloping her fists.  
Emma's eyes were wide, her hands supporting her body against the cool tiles. She had no words.  
She used the wall to push herself, crossing the short distance between her and Regina quickly. Regina raised her hands ready to attack only to be tackled in a bone crushing hug. As Emma's arms wrapped around Regina's body, the brunette became aware of Emma's magic entering her own, causing the flames surrounding her hands to brighten, illuminating the room in a deep orange glow. They stayed like this for a moment before Regina regained her senses.  
"What are you doing Miss Swan?" Regina frowned, it hadn't sounded as threatening as she hoped.  
"Actions speak louder than words" came the reply.  
Another pause  
"I may not be a friendly face, I may be the daughter of the woman who killed your mother, but I'm not Snow. Don't hate me like you hate her." Emma sighed into Regina's shoulder.  
"You can let go now Miss Swan."  
"Not yet Regina. Do you feel that?" Emma asked. Regina paused, all she was aware of was Emma's magic flowing through her.  
"Yes dear, I feel the magic caused by being the product of true love, how sickly sweet." Regina smirked. She felt the arms around her waist tense before they were gone altogether.  
"You don't get it…" Emma sighed as she turned to leave the tomb.  
"I don't understand" Regina replied. Emma stopped and turned to give Regina a small smile.  
"Yeah, me either" She relied with a shrug before crossing the threshold, leaving Regina alone, she flames in her hands had died out leaving the room unnaturally dark.  
A chill passed through the air.  
She was alone again.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma had had enough. As soon as she left Regina she cornered Charming and demanded she tell him everything he knew about the brunette. He had hesitantly told her about her true love, the true love Snow had inadvertedly caused to die. Fed up and frustrated Emma told him that there was a load of paperwork she needed to sort through at the station, he knew it was a lie but didn't press the matter.  
It was some time around 3am, Emma was sat at her desk, glass of scotch in hand.  
Regina could have killed her, it would have been so easy. But she didn't. Emma had her hopes as to why that was but it was unlikely. The former queen displayed nothing but hatred towards the blonde.  
Yet here she was, sat alone thinking of the broken woman.  
She had truly lost everything.  
Her true love  
Her mother  
Her son  
All because of her family.  
Regina had every right to hate her, to hate Snow, to wish death on them both.  
So why hadn't she?  
What was stopping her from killing them both? And then Emma realised.  
Henry, Regina loved that child, killing his birth mom and grandmother wouldn't exactly bring them closer.  
But what if that wasn't the only reason? It was a long shot but Emma had to cling to that hope that there is more to why Regina hasn't killed her.  
Letting out a frustrated sigh Emma dropped her head to the desk.

And this was how Ruby found her friend the next morning, she placed the coffee and bear claw down on the table beside the sleeping form and removed the half full glass of scotch from her hands.  
"Emma." Ruby whispered, shaking the blonde slightly "Emma wake up"  
"What?" Came the mumbled reply  
"Get up, you'll do your back in."  
Emma opened a bleary eye, taking a moment to adjust to her surroundings. Catching whiff of the coffee she quickly sat up and stretched the sleep from her muscles.  
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked  
"Yeah, stressed" Emma shrugged. Ruby frowned for a moment, observing the blonde for a moment  
"Regina?"  
"How did you know?"  
"You always have that look when she's concerned. What happened?"  
"Besides my mother using her to kill her own?" Emma asked, tension in her voice. Ruby winced at the tone  
"Yeah"  
"I went to see her, at the tomb. She through a fire ball at me, so I tackled her into a hug" Emma sighed.  
"I wondered why your hair looked a bit differently, but why a hug?"  
"I….honestly don't know."  
"Well that's lie" Ruby deadpanned with a smirk  
"Well yeah." Emma sighed, nothing could get past Ruby. "But I can't explain why I went for the hug, I guess I just wanted to show her I wasn't going to hurt her. I don't know" Emma dropped her head to the desk again. Ruby smiled sadly at the blonde in front of her  
"Go and talk to her again if you need to."  
"I can't, she needs time to grieve"  
"Then you better distract yourself for a few days." Ruby suggested  
"I should talk to Henry."  
"Why?"  
"Regina loves him, and I know he loves her too. He just… Has the whole good and evil idea running through his head."  
"Nothing is black and white" Ruby replied in agreement.  
"I'm totally stealing that line you know." Emma replied, causing Ruby to laugh  
"Okay, want me to stay here for a while?"  
"Could you?"  
"Of course, go talk to Henry, it's not like he has school today" Ruby replied with a shrug. Emma checked the calendar, Ruby was right, it was Saturday.  
"Thank you Ruby."


	3. Chapter 3

After a brief phonecall with Henry, he agreed to meet Emma at Granny's for breakfast. He was already there when the blonde walked in. She waved hi to Granny before sliding into the booth opposite Henry.  
"I ordered for us already." He smiled gesturing to the two cups of cocoa on the table. Emma smiled warmly at him.  
"Your hair looks different." He frowned. Emma played with her locks awkwardly.  
"Yeah... I, erm... had a run in with Regina." she admitted quietly  
"What?!"  
"Keep it down kid!" Emma scanned the room quickly, thankfully the diner was relatively empty.  
"What happened, are you okay? What did she do?" Henry unleashed an armada of questions.  
"I went to see her, you know how her mother died?" Henry nodded "Well, I went to apologize, and offer her a shoulder to cry on..." Emma paused, Henry didn't know the complete truth about what happened with Cora, against her better judgement she decided not to tell him, yet. "She wasn't happy. She kinda hates me, so she threw a fireball at me."  
"What did you do?" he asked, shock registering on his face  
"I hugged her." Emma shrugged  
"Why? She's evil"  
"She's broken and alone." Emma replied  
"She's the evil queen"  
"She's a woman that lost everything." Emma shot back again. Henry frowned.  
"Why are you defending her?"  
Emma sighed and thought for a moment  
"Because Henry, everybody deserves a second chance."  
"No she doesn't!" His voice had become higher, Emma knew he was angry. She had to tell him the truth.  
"Henry, I need to tell you something okay, sit back down." He stared at her for a moment before complying. "Snow tricked your mom into killing Cora." His eyes went wide  
"But why?"  
"I don't know kid." Emma sighed  
"But... Snow White is a good guy." He mumbled. Emma gave him a sad smile  
"That's the thing Henry, not everything is black and white. I'm the saviour and I used to steal cars. Regina is supposed to be the evil queen yet she saved me and Snow, remember?" Henry nodded "Despite who we are, we're all human, we all make mistakes at times, but we can't let that stop us from having a chance at redemption. She's your mother."  
"You're my mother." Emma sighed, she had anticipated that response  
"We're both your mother, I gave birth to you. But she raised you for ten years. She is more of a mother to you than I am."  
"What about Neal?"  
"Let's not worry about him, don't treat him so much as your father, but as a friend instead okay?"  
Henry gave a hesitant nod. Emma smiled a breathed a sigh of relief. That had been the easy parts. Mentally bracing herself Emma continued  
"I know you're angry at Regina, but like I said, she's your mom and she's really lonely at the moment... So I was wondering if you would feel comfortable spending some time with her."  
"Only if you stay with us." Henry replied quickly. Emma's train of thought stopped, she hadn't expected Henry to agree this quickly.  
"I... I actually miss her." Henry mumbled quietly, but was not lost upon Emma's ears. Now she just had to tell Regina.  
Granny brought over the breakfast Henry had ordered for himself and Emma, they ate in relative silence until the familiar sound of the bell ringing signalling a new customer, follwed by the clicking of heels had Emma's attention suddenly. Henry saw Emma's face and turned in his seat, they both stared at Regina who held their eye contact for a moment before sitting at the bar.  
Henry turned back to face Emma, only to find her still staring at the brunette, after a moment she caught his staring and turned her attention back to him.  
"I'll be back in a minute kid." She spoke quickly, Henry nodded as she got out of the booth, ducking as she tried to ruffle his hair. His breakfast forgotten, Henry made sure to keep an eye on both of his moms.  
"Miss Swan, can I not order my coffee without you bothering me." Regina spoke as Emma reached her, not bothering to look up.  
"Henry wants to spend time with you." Emma cut straight to the point. This got Regina's attention, her eyes suddenly on the blonde.  
"What?" Was all she could manage.  
"I've just spoken to him, he wants to spend time with you, the only catch is he wants me to be with you both." Emma watched as Regina's face fell slightly, but composed herself quickly.  
"Why?" Her voice full of sadness "He hates me"  
"He doesn't hate you, despite everything you still raised him, he loves you, he's just confused... And honestly, my parents aren't really helping." Emma finished with a laugh, hoping to lighten the mood, instead she saw Regina's face harden.  
"And what do you think?" she mumbled  
"I think... You're his mother, you're lonely and I thought you would like the company"  
Regina's eyes met Emma's  
"You thought I would like the company? I'm not a charity case i'll have you know Miss Swan, and you'll do kindly to remember that-" Regina was cut off by Neal entering the diner and smiling to Emma before moving to sit with Henry. "Now why don't you go play happy family with your son and his father." Regina grabbed the to-go cup that Granny had just placed down beside them and walked out of the door. Emma stood for a moment and watched Regina begin to walk down the street before bolting out of the door after her.  
"Regina wait!" No response. Emma picked up the pace and grabbed the brunettes arm, almost knocking the coffee out of her hand in the process.  
"You don't want my help. Fine. I'm offering you a chance to spend time with Henry. Your son. Yes i'll have to be there, but that was at his request, not mine. Neal may be his father, but he hasn't done anything for that boy. You raised him, not me and especially not him. I'm sorry ok! I'm sorry that I took Henry from you, I'm sorry that I took the only source of happiness you had away from you." Emma shut herself up at this moment, her grip on Regina not loosening.  
"Dinner, tonight. Six o'clock, don't be late." Regina forced herself from Emma's grip and continued her way home. Emma watched her until she turned the corner before walking back into the diner.  
"What was all that about?" Neal asked as she sat back down.  
"Henry, is dinner at your mom's tonight okay?" She asked the boy, ignoring Neal. Henry nodded  
"Wait you're taking him to Regina's? Are you crazy?" Emma just let out an irritated sigh.  
"I'm staying with him."  
"Snow and Charm-"  
"I don't give a damn what they think. Henry deserves to spend time with his mom, her past non-withstanding okay?" Emma snapped. Neal stared at her intently before smiling.  
"Whatever you want." He replied. "I'll back you up when you tell them."  
Emma stared at him, he had a look of realisation and acceptance on his face, but he remained silent.

His silence was broken the moment Henry excused himself to use the bathroom.  
"So...Regina?" He grinned  
"Shut up." Emma replied with a sigh  
"How long?"  
"I wish I could remember."  
"Is that why you're doing this?"  
"What do you mean?" Emma asked  
"You're letting her see Henry because you love her?"  
"Woah. Who said anything about love?" Neal just grinned, Emma sighed. "I guess I may love her, but that's not why i'm doing this." Emma's eyes dropped to the table  
"Then why are you?" Emma looked up and met Neal's eyes.  
"Because she needs saving."  
"From who?" he asked, confused  
"Herself."


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N) So I have the entire story planned out, so hopefully that will avoid all writing blocks, the next update will hopefully be Tuesday, enjoy!

Henry had gone to play with Grace for a while after breakfast, leaving Neal and Emma alone in Snow's apartment. They sat in virtual silence, each nursing a cup of coffee.  
"I just thought.." Neal broke the silence  
"Thanks for the heads up." Emma replied quickly, a small smirk playing across her features.  
"Regina lost her mother literally a couple of days ago, the fact that not only did she leave her home today, but she also agreed to let you and Henry come over for dinner seems like a miracle." He pondered. Emma thought for a moment.  
"I guess, that if she locked herself away to grieve, people would think she was weak..."  
"And she doesn't want people to think that." Neal finished. Emma nodded and finished her coffee. She left her seat to walk over to the pot to refill her cup.  
"So when do you plan on telling your parents that you're in love with the evil queen?"  
"I don't, not yet anyway." Emma replied stiffly.  
"And Henry?"  
"I don't know. But if he's as observant as you? He'll work it out soon enough." Emma shrugged as she turned to face Neal.  
"So how long?" Neal asked, he couldn't stop himself, he had so many questions, but judging from the look on Emma's face, so did she. They held a steady eye contact for a moment before Emma let out a dejected sigh.  
"I had a crush on her since the day I met her I guess, I didn't really start developing a crush on her until the mine incident..."  
"The what?"  
"Henry and Archie fell down a mine shaft, and she got right up in my personal space you know? I seriously thought she was going to kiss me there and then." Emma chuckled. "But when did I fall in love with her? I've asked myself that for weeks now, but honestly, I think it was the day the curse broke. Seeing her so broken over Henry, how we put our differences aside to save him. And then later on that day, Gold sent this wraith thing after her. All I remember is doing everything in my power to save her from it, and ending up in fairy tale land in the process." Emma shrugged. "It's been so hectic since then I guess I never gave myself the time to dwell on it."  
Neal nodded slowly as he took the information in. Emma's eyes never left him as she moved back to sit beside him.  
"So... Are you gay?" He turned to face her with a grin. Emma laughed despite herself  
"I don't know, I guess? I've definitely had more crushes on girls than boys."  
"So I was an exception?" Neal winked.  
"Don't get so full of yourself." Emma laughed as she slapped his arm before becoming serious. "I think... I think that I did love you, but looking back, it isn't the same as what I feel when I think of Regina." She sighed, giving Neal an apologetic look.  
"It's cool" Neal shrugged "We're not each others true loves, I can deal with that. But you need to promise me a few things."  
"What?" Emma replied apprehensively. Neal held up a finger  
"One, make sure that you don't mess it up. Be happy." He held up another finger "Two, don't let anybody stand in the way of your happiness." He held up a third finger "And finally, I call dibs on the role of Les-bro" Despite the serious look and tone Neal had taken up Emma doubled over in laughter.  
"You got a deal Les-bro" She winked as she punched his shoulder.  
"Now then. Let's move onto a more serious topic. Tonight."  
"Right..." Emma felt a slow build of anxiety.  
"I'll cover for you and Henry, I'll tell your parents that we're going out for dinner and then I'll go into hiding or something."  
"Personally I can see that blowing up in our faces but we don't really have any option."  
"Okay so long as you're both out of the house when they get back it'll work. Next, what are you going to wear?"  
Emma stared at Neal before looking at her outfit, boots, tank top and red leather jacket.  
"What's wrong with this?"  
"What's right with it? That jacket should have been burnt a long time ago" Neal prodded Emma's shoulder with a frown  
"Well at least you and Regina can get together and bitch about my jacket..." Emma mumbled.  
"You need to dress up without making it look obvious you're dressed up." Neal replied.  
"And what do you suggest?"  
"What do you have?" They stared each other down for a moment before Emma sighed and gestured for him to follow her to her room. Upon entering Emma dropped down onto the bed and pointed to a small closest. Neal raised an eyebrow and began to look through.  
"You really need to branch out on some more outfits..." Emma heard him grumble from the closet.  
"Been kind of busy, you know breaking the curse, falling into a portal to another world, sailing a boat and what not." She shrugged. As she watched Neal pulling out clothes and frowning at them Emma found herself seeing him as more of a brother now than an ex-boyfriend.  
"Here" He said simply, placing some clothes down beside her.  
He had chosen her brown boots, that cut off just below the knee. A pair of black jeans and a fancy looking red shirt that Emma could not remember ever buying.  
"You'll look good"  
"Don't I always?"  
"Don't get so full of yourself" Neal replied with a wink.

It was 5:55pm. Emma and Henry stood outside the mansion in silence, as they had done for the past ten minutes.  
"Stop messing with your clothes, you look fine" Henry groaned as Emma smoothed out a non-existing crease. "Why are you wearing different clothes anyway?" the boy asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"Your mom hates my red leather" Emma shrugged as she stared at the door. She turned to face Henry "You nervous?"  
"Nope" Henry shook his head. "I thought about what you said this morning. She loves me and I need to give her a chance." Emma couldn't hide her proud smile even if she tried. She ruffled his hair in approval.  
"Let's do this then." Emma took a deep breath.

Regina had seen Emma's excuse of a car pull up outside her home ten minutes ago. She watched as her son and Emma walked up to the front door, they had yet to knock however.  
"Probably having second thoughts" She whispered to herself as she walked back into the kitchen. Regina checked on the lasagne, smiling to herself as she found it to be done. As she pulled it out and set it on the side to cool for a moment, she pulled out two wine glasses from the cupboard above her. Regina set them down but didn't move. Her thoughts drifted to the two figures stood outside her door. Emma had at least had the decency to dress decently, she had to owe it to the blonde that despite what has transpired over the past few days she was allowing Regina to see Henry.  
_"__I'm sorry ok! I'm sorry that I took Henry from you, I'm sorry that I took the only source of happiness you had away from you." _Emma's words still rung out in Regina's mind, the blonde had sounded so desperate, her eyes had looked as though they were burning straight into Regina's soul. There had been no hatred there. She thought back to the tomb. Emma had hugged her, pleaded with Regina to not see her as the daughter of Snow White, but as Emma Swan.  
The sound of a shatter broke Regina's trail of thought. Looking down she saw that one of the wine glasses had shattered in her hand, despite the brunette having a loose grip on it.  
Then she felt it, the remnants of magic. Had she done this?  
Before Regina could asses the situation any more the door finally knocked, leaving the glass as it was she crossed the hallway and opened the door wearing her finest smile.

The first thing Emma noticed when Regina opened the door was the smile. It was forced. The second thing was her outfit. Emma knew Regina had a kick ass wardrobe but the black dress she had chosen to wear showed her figure off perfectly. The third thing Emma noticed was Regina's eyes, they looked pained, that was when she saw Regina's left hand, more specifically the blood that was slowly leaking from it.  
"Henry, Miss Swan come in." Regina moved to the side to allow them both entry "Go and take a seat, dinner will be ready in a moment." Henry silently ran into the dining room, both parents watched as he did so, as soon as the boy was out of sight Emma grabbed Regina's left wrist.  
"Miss Swan, can you not manhandle me?" Regina hissed. Emma stayed silent and pulled Regina into the kitchen and turned the sink tap on before pulling Regina's hand underneath the cold stream of water. Regina realised what Emma was doing and opened her hand, allowing the water to wash away the cut along her palm.  
Regina said nothing as she watched Emma stare at her hand, making sure there was no glass inside, before grabbing a nearby dishcloth and holding it to the cut with such tenderness it was as though the cut wasn't there.  
"Thank you Miss Swan, I can handle it from here." Regina nodded her head towards the dining room, effectively telling Emma to leave. Thankfully the blonde obliged and left Regina alone, who in turn let out an agitated sigh and removed the dishcloth.  
The cut was gone.  
She knew Emma had magic, but there was no way she had learnt any healing spells, especially from Rumple.  
As always Regina pushed it to the back of her mind and settled on handling dinner.

It was awkward. So awkward. Emma felt the need to stay silent to give Regina and Henry a chance to catch up. Since they had all sat down all Emma had said was how good the lasagne was, a compliment Regina accepted with hesitance. From then she had listened to Henry tell Regina all about how Charming was teaching him how to care for his horse, how school was going and that he was still one of the best in the class despite Emma not being very good at helping him with his homework. Emma watched Regina soak in the information, her eyes were bright. She was happy, in turn this made Emma happy, to know that by bringing Henry for something as mundane as dinner, it had literally lightened up Regina's world.  
"And Gramps is teaching me how to use a sword!" Henry exclaimed in the middle of a mouth full of food.  
"A wooden one!" Emma interrupted as she saw the horrified expression on Regina's face.  
Regina was about to reply when the door was kicked open, Charming, Snow and Neal storming through.  
"Speak of the Devil..." Emma sighed.  
"Emma get away from her!" Charming's voice took over, Regina, Henry and Emma had jumped from their seats upon the door being kicked open. Snow ran past him and grabbed Henry, pulling the boy out of the house. Emma glared at Neal who silently replied with a apologetic look.  
"No." Emma dead panned.  
"Go home Miss Swan, clearly your family need you" Regina spoke curtly as she collected the dishes and moved into the kitchen. Emma ignored Charming and followed Regina, who emerged from the kitchen. "Go. Home." Regina's voice had dropped several octaves.  
"No" Emma folded her arms.  
"LEAVE." Regina flicked Emma's forehead, unable to stop the magic from surfacing and exploding from her fingertips, sending the blonde flying like a rag doll, past a slack jawed Charming and Neal and through the open door.  
"Emma!" Charming ran after his daughter, Neal in pursuit. Emma managed to lift her head in time to see Regina slam the door shut. Charming tried to help Emma to her feet, only to have her shove him away and stand up on shaky legs, using Neal as support.

Neal drove Emma back to Snow's apartment, they remained silent the entire journey, he kept glancing towards the blonde who was too busy staring out of the window to even attempt a conversation.  
As soon as they stepped inside the apartment all hell broke loose.  
"What was you thinking?!" Snow yelled, her voice becoming increasingly higher.  
"She deserved to see her son!" Emma retorted  
"No she doesn't! She's evil!" Snow shot back. Emma just stared at her mother. Henry had been sent to bed as soon as they had gotten home.  
"Fuck this." Emma walked out of the door, leaving her parents and Neal alone.

Neal found Emma an hour later, sat at her desk in the station, her beloved bottle of Jack beside her.  
"Room for one more?" He asked quietly. Emma didn't reply, instead she opened her draw and pulled out another glass, setting it on the desk. Neal took this as a good sign and approached her and poured a glass of his own, before pulling up another chair as to sit opposite her.  
Neal watched Emma stare into her drink as though she would find all of the answers to the universe inside. As soon as she finished her glass she poured herself another one and placed the glass against her forehead, letting the coolness soothe her aching head.  
"That's going to leave a nasty bump" Neal remarked  
"No thanks to you." Emma shot back, malice evident in her voice. Neal sighed and put his glass down.  
"When they got back they asked where you and Henry was, I told them you had both gone out and I was going to meet you for dinner. They bought it, they did. So I went to Granny's for an actual meal and they showed up! When they realised you weren't there they figured out where you both had gone, I tried to stop them Em, really I did." Emma looked up and saw he was telling her the truth. She just nodded and continued to drink.  
After several minutes she spoke up again.  
"I'm fed up"  
Neal waited for her to elaborate. "Every argument is the same, no matter who I have it with. They always say "She's evil" and it's really fucking pissing me off"  
Neal tried to supress a chuckle  
"She isn't perfect. She's far from it. But neither is anybody else!" Emma's hands shot out, spilling some of her drink on the floor. "Snow killed Cora, I stole cars, Ruby ate people. Yet we're seen as the good guys and I can't fucking deal with the knowledge that no matter what Regina does it will never be enough for them!" Emma yelled before dropping her head onto the desk, letting out a moan as her already sore forehead came into contact with the metal surface.  
"Yin and Yang" Neal spoke suddenly, his voice seemingly distant.  
"What?" Emma mumbled, not bothering to lift her head.  
"Yin and yang, good and evil, light and dark."  
"Are you going somewhere with this or-"  
"You and Regina, you guys are Yin and Yang. Light and dark, the balance, you can't exist without her nor can she exist without you. By extension it also means that nothing is black and white, nothing is one hundred percent good or bad." He looked over to Emma to see her fast asleep, her head still on the desk. Neal sighed and wrote a note on a spare piece of paper before leaving the blonde alone in the station.


End file.
